Damage all around, Tippecanoe Co. escapes worst of Friday storms, tornadoes
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Damage all around, Tippecanoe Co. escapes worst of Friday storms, tornadoes
Extensive damage reported in other parts of Indiana, including three dead south of Terre Haute. In Greater Lafayette: ‘We skated by.’
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ASSESSING THE DAMAGE FROM FRIDAY NIGHT’S STORMS
In a Friday night storm that produced reports of deadly tornadoes and high winds across Indiana, Tippecanoe County was largely spared.
Smokey Anderson, Tippecanoe Emergency Management Agency director, said this agency was out assessing damage Saturday morning, including a report of roofs blown off near the Tippecanoe/Benton/White county lines northwest of West Lafayette.
“But right now, I think we skated by with very little damage,” Anderson said.
A line of storms that killed at least three people in Sullivan County, south of Terre Haute, and raked through Franklin and Whiteland, just south of Indianapolis in Johnson County, also left damage just south and north of Tippecanoe County.
Near Colfax, about 20 miles south of Lafayette along U.S. 52, Kyle Hancock told Based in Lafayette correspondent Vincent Walter that he and his wife, Michelle, gathered their kids and hunkered down after hearing sirens from the town. Saturday morning, they were going through trees strewn in their yard and a missing roof from the winds.
Damage was reported at other homes, as well at the Loveless Cemetery near U.S. 52 at Clinton County Road 650 South.
Clinton County Sheriff’s Office reported down trees and assorted damage around Frankfort.
White County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday morning was asking people to stay clear of County Road 750 North near Monticello as crews worked to clear utility pole and trees down in the road. Anderson said there were reports of homes damaged in White County near Indiana 18 and about 100 power poles down in the county just north of Tippecanoe County.
Wind advisories were in effect through 6 p.m. Saturday in Greater Lafayette, with the National Weather Service at Purdue reporting sustained winds of out of the west at 28 mph and gusts of 47 mph.
Across the state …
The Terre Haute Tribune-Star had this Saturday morning report: “3 dead, at least 200 structures hit after tornado slams Sullivan.”
From the Herald-Times in Bloomington, reporting on damage to McCormick’s Creek State Park in Owen County: “High winds down trees, trap people in campers at McCormick's Creek State Park.”
From USA Today, an assessment of a day storms that caused destruction across the country: “Tornadoes, severe storms tear across South, Midwest, leaving at least 11 dead; theater roof collapses in Illinois.”
OTHER READS …
WLFI reporter Joe Paul had an update on an investigation out of Boone County that included a February search on the Wabash Township Fire Department fire station on Klondike Road, near West Lafayette. The upshot: No arrests were made, and the investigation is over in a case that was revealed to be about hackers, child sex abuse material and identity theft. Here’s more from Paul, including reaction from township officials: “No arrest after hackers post child porn to firefighter's social media accounts.”
The hardware keeps piling up for Purdue center Zach Edey, now your AP National Player of the Year.
There were several solid reads on changes in legislation that would ditch the state’s $1 charter school law – one West Lafayette schools fought vigorously in court in recent years to stop the prospect of a charter school getting Happy Hollow Elementary for a dollar – but expand access for charter schools to get a cut of public school districts’ referendum money. (The law would affect four counties for now, with Tippecanoe County not included. Here are two of the stories from the Statehouse. From Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith: “Indiana’s ‘$1 Law’ to expire — plus new funding for charter schools — under newly amended bill.” And Indianapolis Star reporters Rachel Fradette and Caroline Beck had this: “Indiana charter schools might lose $1 law but gain referendum money.”
States Newsroom reporters Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa and Ashley Murray had this about a federal judge’s ruling in Texas this week that determined health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act. That would include access to no-cost preventive health care, including pregnancy-related care, cancer screenings, HIV prevention pharmaceuticals and more. Their reporting is here: “U.S. judge rules insurers don’t have to cover many free preventive health services.”
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Damage all around, Tippecanoe Co. escapes worst of Friday storms, tornadoes
Insurers would be dumb to not continue to cover the preventative healthcare services that help alleviate the need for greater, more expensive services down the road.